Small suburban coop in-progress

That sounds like a horizontal nipple....the best IMO...
....there are also vertical nipples that go in the bottom of a container, which leak more and you can't set container down(PITA).

Here's my waterer....I just take out heater in summer.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples

More info on water nipples
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ne...&order=descending&Search=SEARCH&Search=SEARCH

Feeder https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-almost-waste-free-funnel-bucket-feeder

Got tired of picking through the shavings--and by picking through I mean giving up after a couple minutes and just scooping out all the clean and dirty stuff--and put in half an inch of sand in the coop. I do really like how fluffy the shavings are, but they're just so wasteful in terms in cleanish material getting tossed out along with the weirdly dry and neat poops. So trying out sand and a kitty litter scooper!



This was labelled as all-purpose sand at the hardware store and has a mix of very fine and coarser pebbles. I have no idea what sand is best but wanted very much to avoid accidentally buying ready-mix cement.

I also started putting some mulch down on the ground of the run. There's actually been no smells and the waste seems to dry quickly (woo covered run!), but it was getting pretty grotty looking. So it's covered like this now (and leftover shavings):




Hopefully it will turn into nice compost over time. Our actual compost pile is not doing well and seems to get soggy and dried out parts no matter how much I turn it. Unhappy mildew smells. Who knew trying to rot down yard waste was so hard?




Chickies are super happy to be let out after work, and the two bantams usually hop up for treats/scritches (woo, I can touch them again!) and then come peck at the back door for more later. Rapping at our chamber door? EE is still being a butt and doesn't like being petted, but it's sooo fluffy that sometimes I can't resist.